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Wednesday, December 14, 2011

JOHOR BAHARU: Johor Premium Outlets (JPO), which was launched by
Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Tun Razak today, is estimated to attract
3 million visitors in its first year of operation.

Najib said he was confident the upscale outlet would not only see an
influx of local consumers but also of international visitors from across
Southeast Asia and the Middle East.

"I am sure many of our European tourists will also take advantage of
the favourable exchange rate and discover that it is more economical for
them to buy their goods here," he said at the grand opening of JPO at
Kulaijaya near here today.

Najib, who is also the Finance Minister, said Genting Simon Sdn Bhd,
the JPO operator, will invest an additional RM100 million to build
another 60 shops, bringing the total number of JPO shops to 130.

JPO, the first Premium Outlet megastore in Southeast Asia and the 70th
in the world, is a collection of 80 designer and name-brand outlet
stores featuring savings of 25 to 65 per cent every day.

Genting Simon is a wholly-owned subsidiary of Simon Genting Ltd, which
in turn is a 50:50 joint venture between Genting Plantation's Azzon Ltd
and Premium Outlets, the outlet division of Simon Property Group.

The Prime Minister said JPO's future plans include the construction of a
water park, convention centre and a 2,000-room hotel, all within the
vicinty.

"I am fully excited with the investment," he said at the ceremony which
was also attended by Johor Menteri Besar Datuk Abdul Ghani Othman,
Genting Group chairman Tan Sri K.T. Lim and Premium Outlets president
John Klein.

When annoucing the Budget 2012 earlier this year, Najib said the
government wanted to promote Malaysia as a shopping haven in Asia by
providing branded goods at competitive prices, adding JPO could do much
to help fulfill this vision.

According to the Prime Minister, JPO, located in Iskandar Malaysia, is
one of Malaysia's leading tourism projects under the National Key
Economic Areas of the Economic Transformation Programme (ETP).

He said under the ETP, Malaysia expects to attract some RM1.4 trillion
in investments, create 3.3 million new jobs and achieve a gross national
income of RM1.7 trillion by 2020.

Out of the 131 Entry Point Projects (EPP), he said, 72 have taken off within the last 12 months.

With government investment in infrastructure of more than RM6 billion
and encompassing over 2,200 sq km, Iskandar Malaysia is the largest
single development project to be undertaken in this region, he added.

As of September this year, Najib said, Iskandar Malaysia had recorded a
total cumulative committed investment of RM77.82 billion, with 60 per
cent from domestic investors and the remaining 40 per cent from
overseas.

"I am pleased to say that we are expecting further investments from
China, South Korea, Japan, India, the Middle East and North America in
the near future," he said. -- BERNAMA